Episode 1.2
Synopsis After a London Underground cleaner is injured by an Arthropleura the team investigate an underground time anomaly that leads to the Late Carboniferous period. They soon face a deadlier creature than the spiders. Plot Cutter starts to suspect that his supposedly deceased wife, Helen knew about the anomaly that has caused them so much trouble. While everyone presumes the discovery of her camera, millions of years in the past, confirms her death, Cutter has a different theory. But for now, he's keeping his speculations to himself. Lester, meanwhile is growing increasingly sceptical of Cutter and his unorthdox methods, but Claudia defends him as their only expert and Lester agrees to keep him involved... for now. However, Lester suspects Claudia has ulterior motives for keeping Cutter onboard. Meanwhile, following complaints regarding the number of pests in the London Underground, a London Underground cleaner searching for pests in the London Underground sees a giant spider: the spider pounces on him and savagely bites at his neck. Back at the Central Metropolitan University, Connor is unable to keep his mouth shut and blabs about the Gorgonopsid and the anomaly to his friends: unsurprisingly, they don't believe him, and assume he's gone mad. After receiving a lead about another dinosaur sighting, Connor convinces Abby to help him. As he tries to win Abby over with a night's camping, he discovers she is in fact hoping Stephen might see her as more than an 'animal expert'. His hopes for adventure fail dramatically as his 'friends' decide to make a fool of him, and reveal themselves as the people that created the ‘dinosaur-sighting' as a hoax, having menaced the pair with a remote-control dinosaur. Matters aren't helped when Cutter and Stephen, who had only just find out what Connor and Abby were up to, charge to the rescue with the police and soldiers, assuming the pair were in mortal danger. When he discovers it was simply a time-wasting hoax, a furious Cutter fires Connor from the team. Abby tries to take her share of the blame, but Cutter lets her stay on account of the fact her skill with animals is still useful. After that debacle, Cutter and Claudia are called to a nearby hospital, where the London Underground worker is being treated. He's suffered a vicious wound to his neck, but that's not what's killing him: venom is. Cutter examines the wound and concludes it's more like a sting or bite than any blade-inflicted wound. After convincing Lester to close the Underground station where the attack occurred (who is not happy to close the Underground "simply because there might be a fare-dodging creepy-crawly on the loose!"), Cutter and the team arrive to investigate. Captain Tom Ryan and his soldiers go in first, but soon come under attack from giant spiders and are forced to retreat. Back on the surface, Ryan's report indicates to the team that there is an anomaly down there, but linked this time, not to the Permian, but the Carboniferous. But when Cutter, Abby and Stephen head down to investigate, they find the anomaly and something far more ferocious than the spiders waiting for them: a huge, slithering, fifteen-foot beast emerges from hiding and attacks– the creature is an Arthropleura: a vicious ancestor of the millipede. Stephen and Abby escape, but Cutter becomes lost in a maze of underground passages. Lost in the labyrinthine tunnels, Cutter hears the voice of his wife calling to him. Back on the surface, realising they need help from someone who understands how the creature is likely to behave, Claudia rehires Connor. Stephen, meanwhile makes a desperate attempt to rescue his old friend from the fangs of the Arthropleura but only succeeds in getting attacked himself. Waiting to die, in his poison induced delirium, he thinks he sees Helen; and she has a message for Cutter. When Cutter manages to escape the network of tunnels, Stephen gives it to him before succumbing to unconciousness: Helen's alive, and she's waiting for him on the other side of the anomaly. Stephen also manages to ask Abby out for dinner before he passes out. At the hospital, the doctors tell Abby unless they can get a sample of venom from the creature that bit him to synthesise an antidote, his chances of survival are none. Cutter gives the order for the Arthropleura to be captured so a sample of its venom can be taken, but the team despair when they can't find the Arthropleura. Assuming it's gone back through the anomaly, Connor discovers it has in fact burrowed deeper underground. Ryan, Cutter and Connor follow the narrow tunnel to a disused machinery room. The Arthropleura is on a rafter watching them. It slithers down and attacks Cutter, who catches its fangs so they inject venom into two absorbent pads under his suit. With their task done, Ryan starts shooting at the creature. It thrashes around in fury, knocking the gun from his hand. As Ryan scrambles for his gun, Connor starts hitting the centipede with a metal stool. The enraged and wounded Arthropleura grasps the stool and rips it from his hands, but in doing so, it collides with an electrical circuit box and receives a heavy electric shock to its head; mortally wounded, the Athropleura goes into convulsions and falls from the rafters to its death. The team get the venom to the hospital, allowing the doctors to synthesise an antidote, which they adminster to Stephen. Stephen recovers slowly but does not remember anything about seeing Helen or asking Abby out on a date. Back in the underground, Cutter and Connor watch the anomaly while they wait for it to close. He tells Connor that he will give him one last chance ... but not a cool nickname. He then feels at the anomaly before it closes, thinking about his wife, but does not go through it. Cast * Nick Cutter — Douglas Henshall * Abby Maitland — Hannah Spearritt * Stephen Hart — James Murray * Connor Temple — Andrew-Lee Potts * Claudia Brown — Lucy Brown * Helen Cutter — Juliet Aubrey * James Lester — Ben Miller * Captain Tom Ryan — Mark Wakeling * Tom — Jake Curran * Duncan — James Bradshaw * Dr Lewis — Stephanie Street * Woman on Tube — Emily Dobbs * London Underground Cleaner - ? Continuity *An Arthropleura returns in Episode 2.6 and Episode 2.7. *As the cleaner is wounded by the spider, the Wilhelm Scream can be heard. Ratings 6 million (27.5%) Errors *The Arthropleura has been heavily re-imagined as larger than the real animal and much more aggressive. This was done for dramatic effect. *''Connor said that the creature wasn't an arthroplerua, but an ARTHROPLEURID. It may be a prevoiusly unknown speices of animal in the same family as arthropleura.'' *The high levels of oxygen make the soldiers' guns malfunction yet has no effect on Stephen's brazing torch. *At the episode's beginning, the train announcer mentions Parsons Green Station. However, the train stops in a deep-level tunnel, and Parsons Green is an overground District Line station. *The London Underground Cleaner is bitten by the spider but Stephen is bitten by the Arthropleura. (The Arthropleura's attack on the cleaner probably took place offscreen) Appearances Characters *Nick Cutter *Helen Cutter *Stephen Hart *Connor Temple *Abby Maitland *Claudia Brown *James Lester *Tom Ryan *London Underground Cleaner *Duncan *Tom *Dr Lewis *Rex *Woman on Tube *Ben Trent (mentioned) *Schoolteacher (mentioned) Locations *Home Office *London Underground Creatures *Coelurosauravus *Protosolpugidae *Arthropleura Organisations *Home Office Reviews and Ratings Please use this space to write any comments or reviews about this episode. Add your rating out of ten as well. Thanks! *I liked this episode but there were better ones, so I would give it 6/10.--SuperHLK 15:32, September 12, 2009 (UTC) *This episode was OK, but there were other ones I liked better. I give it 5/10. ZEM talk to me! 16:34, September 12, 2009 (UTC) *This was a brilliant episode! It started really slowly but the action soon picked up. I loved the inclusion of Carboniferous bugs and the Helen subplot was given more scope. I give it 8/10. External link Episode Guide on itv.com http://www.itv.com/Drama/cult/Primeval/default.html 1.2, Episode